Promises
by A Phrase That Cuts These Lips
Summary: Years later, a dying Kitty makes one last trip to the Other Place. Mostly implied Bartimaeus/Kitty, Oneshot.


A/N: Hello, Bartimaeus Trilogy Fandom. You're my new best friend. *hugs all around.*

So, yeah. This story may have been done before, but you know what - I haven't seen one, so whatever. It was really fun to write. It's un-beta'd, because I wrote it in two hours and couldn't be bothered x)

There is a ton of backstory to this that I am not even aware of which made itself apparent while I wrote it. Maybe I'll figure out what that backstory is someday. Or maybe I'll continue to wonder what Bartimaeus and Kitty are trying to tell me. XD

Oh, and also, genre fail. I cannot for the life of me figure out what genre this is. D:

Enjoy!

* * *

They told her she had two months, possibly less. The cancer was moving through her system at an ever-growing rate. They couldn't judge exactly how long she would live – there were treatments they could use, of course, but they were painful and wouldn't help her anyway.

Kitty smiled knowingly. She had far longer than _that_.

She hadn't done a summoning in at least twenty years, but she felt confidant that she could. She borrowed chalk and incense and candles from a neighbor, but in the end she only used the chalk. All the other things, she thought, may have been necessary for some kinds of summoning, but for this (which, most people would say, was the most complex summoning of all, but she had to disagree), she didn't need it to be any more complicated than necessary.

She didn't say goodbye. There wasn't anyone to say goodbye to, anyway. In fact, she doubted that anyone would notice that she was gone.

Kitty took her time drawing the pentacle, making sure every rune, every mark, was perfect. She marveled, for a moment, how natural the drawing still felt after all these years, then set it aside and lay down inside the pentacle.

For a few minutes, she didn't speak, didn't move at all. She stared around at her house, the small but comfortable living room she was in – the only part of the house big enough for a pentacle her size. A small home, yes, but Kitty wasn't married – not anymore – and her only child had chosen to live with his father (who, as it happened, had left her while shouting something about 'caring about some blasted demon more than her own family.' She had laughed) long ago. She had barely seen him since – wasn't even sure if either of them were still alive. A small house suited her just fine.

_You don't need to do this, _a voice in her head whispered. _You're dying, yes, but you're still alive now. You can stay for a few more weeks._

Kitty considered this. _I could, _she answered, very accustomed to talking to herself, (who else interesting was there to talk to, anyway?) _but there's nothing left here. Besides, I promised him._

The voice could not argue with this point and fell silent. Kitty did not break promises.

She began to speak the incantation, slowly and softly – she didn't want to muck it up, and besides, she had all the time in the world to get it right. She felt the magic flow through her, felt the same as she had the first time, so many years ago – the detachment from her body, the air rushing past even as she laid in one place, and then –

_- nothing._

_-----_

The Other Place had not changed – but then again, it was always changing, always moving. She wasn't sure if she'd expected it to be different or not. It did, however, feel strangely familiar, more accepting than the first time. Maybe the Other Place recognized her.

She didn't bother calling out to him immediately – he probably knew she was there anyway; after all, he _had _answered her call. She remained as still and silent as possible, marveling at the beauty of the light and texture and sound of the spirit world.

"_It's not about doing, it's about _being," he'd said to her, so she tried that for a moment – let herself just _drift, _and tried not to think. It was terribly frustrating, as her mind kept wandering to other things, but, she supposed, she'd get the hang of it soon.

_Took you long enough._

The voice was playful, sarcastic, and painfully wonderfully familiar. If Kitty could have stuck out her tongue, she would have. _Oh?_

_Mmhmm. For a minute there I thought you might outlive me. _He paused, and took on a slightly more serious tone. Only slightly. _Or had forgotten._

_Hey, you know me. I keep my promises._

_I know._

Where there had been only a swirling, bluish mist, there was now the form of a smiling young Egyptian boy – her breath caught at the sight of his eyes, dark and glittering, and his face was just as beautiful as she remembered it – perhaps more so. His rendition of Ptolemy's body had not changed at all, and that was as it should have been. She knew that Bartimaeus was only giving himself a physical form for her benefit, as it was only a nuisance in the Other Place, and she was grateful for it. She hadn't realized how much she _ached _to see him again.

She molded herself into something vaguely resembling her body the way it had been last time they had met – the way she wanted him to remember her (he likely wouldn't have cared much, but it made her feel better), and stepped toward him, looking up into his face. She reached out, wanting – _needing – _to touch him, and was surprised to see him do the same, just barely brushing his fingers against her face.

Kitty stepped forward and embraced him. Their physical bodies immediately dissolved when his arms wrapped around her, but that didn't matter at all as she became one with him, with the Other Place and everything in it.

This place felt more like home than Earth ever had, through all these years. _He _felt like home.

Kitty closed her eyes and accepted eternity.


End file.
